The background of the invention will be discussed in two parts.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to turbines for converting wind into mechanical energy and more particularly to an omni-wind vertical axis turbine.
2. Prior Art
Apparatus for harnessing the wind to provide mechanical energy have become commonplace and a variety of wind turbines are known in the art. A search of the prior art has not disclosed the wind turbine of the present invention, however, devices of interest are shown and described in the following: U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,637 issued to Wadsworth on 28 Jul. 1992 relates a vertical axis wind turbine having inclined vanes to reduce friction on bearing assemblies affixed to the rotor shaft, U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,842 issued to Boatner on 10 Feb. 2004 relates to a vertical axis wind turbine having multiple stacked wind engines for causing rotation of a rotor about the vertical axis in response to impinging wind, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,521 issued to Eylman on 30 Oct. 2001 which relates to a universal power generator utilizing either flow of wind or liquid to generate energy.
Thus, wind-driven apparatus wherein the operative element rotates on a vertical axis are known in the art, however, this type of apparatus generally includes a plurality of arms extending in a horizontal plane wherein a cup-like shaped wind engaging device is secured to the extremity of each arm. The devices are similarly oriented at the extremities of the arms with the result being that of one-half of the apparatus presents a greater resistance to the wind than the other half. These prior art devices are in general too complex, inefficient and uneconomical. Accordingly, considering the shortcomings and deficiencies in the known prior art, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved vertical axis omni-wind turbine that more simplistic, efficient and economical in structure than prior art devices. It is another object of the invention to provide a wind sail design suitable for power generation from either wind or water flow. Another object of the invention is to provide a self-starting vertical axis wind turbine which is economical in construction and which has improved mechanical reliability resulting from a reduced load on supporting structures. A further object of the invention is to provide a self starting omni-wind turbine which does not require a wind vane or other device to realign the turbine with each change in the wind direction. Other objects of the invention will become apparent with a reading of the specification taken with the drawings wherein there is shown and described the vertical axis wind sail apparatus of the invention.